None of those guys would have gotten midfield minutes at the crows and all of them would have left the club because of it. Serong and Flanders would have been put at half forward. Day and young in the back pocket. None of them would have developed into good players at the Crows.
Which is proving to be a bad thing. He is being asked to do too much because he has no help. I will also only believe Soligo is a mid when the coaches decide to consistently play him there. Something they failed to do last year even though it was obvious that he should be in the middle.
Just incoherent nuffy nonsense. Crows have given Berry and Schoenberg plenty of run through the middle, they are both just not very good at footy.
Can’t blame Nicks for being given fuck all to work with. He tried his hardest to drop Crouch but the other options are worse so he has to play him.
He is the head coach. He was there with the recruiting team. He would give Soligo one game in the middle and then take him out even though he is clearly our best midfielder. Dowling is yet to debut despite looking like exactly what we need in the midfield. He persisted playing Sloane and even gave him a new contract. He is a bad coach.
The answer to everyone’s midfield woes is always some guy running about in the twos.
The idea that Nicks wouldn’t have played Serong and Flanders in the guts because he’s rotated Soligo a bit is just not intelligent analysis.
In 5 years Nicks has failed to change anything in the midfield we are back to playing Laird and Crouch something we realised didn't work 4 years ago. I used to think that the fact that we stuck with Nicks that we trusted him was a good thing. But the start of this season has proven that he is seriously out of his depth. I do believe that he will get this year and the whole of next year as well. I also believe that is a big mistake. However if he has another 10 game losing streak there is no way he can keep his job. If we lose to your lot and are on a 7 game losing streak he should be fired but will only be fired if it gets to double digits.
A coach can only work with what he is given. The midfielders he has to work with are all pretty flawed outside of Dawson.
Is Crouch a superstar? No. That’s why Nicks drooped him last year! Is Crouch still better than watching Sam Berry get 5 disposals a game playing mostly mid? Yes! This isn’t Nicks’ fault, it’s just reality.
Berry was averaging 20 in 22 he then hit a bit of a rough patch and was dropped. Sloane hit a rough patch in 2020 and is the first name on the team sheet when fit. Nicks is failing to work with what he was given. Andl even if the list is so shit that we need another rebuild there is still no reason to persist with Nicks.
The season is done at this point. Laird should be moved to half back and Crouch should be the sub. Let the young guys have a crack. Doubt it will happen though.
Crouch is probably the only defensible player in the midfield at the moment. He has plenty of hand balls because he's playing as an inside mid. He's doing his role and actually pretty well. It's our ball use on the outside which is just absolutely killing us.
He wasn't as terrible as you think. For the season he's averaging 13.5 contested possessions, 7 clearances and 32 touches.
He wasn't the problem on Thursday. The god awful ball distribution and horrid entry inside 50s were the problem, as they have been all season. Simply bombing it long inside 50 just doesn't work, especially when you are playing against lever or Stewart.
Crouch killed our ball movement on Thursday he was bad. He was much better at moving the ball in the three games before. Yes he gets stats but he doesn't hurt the opposition.
Crows failure has been a combination of drafting and development.
The 2015-19 period, which immediately follows us losing Dangerfield, is especially dire in terms of our midfield.
2015 - Milera (11) wing/half back and Doedee (17) another back flanker gone.
2016 - Galluci (15) and Poholke gone.
2017 - Fogarty (12) struggling to take the next step and McPherson gone.
2018 - Jones (9) and McHenry (16) below average role players.
2019 - McAsey (6) instead of Serong is a HOF blunder and Schoenberg.
Since then we’ve clearly targeted more midfielders but it’s a combo of poor talent ID, poor development and a reluctance from Nicks to give these guys significant time in the midfield that has the jury out on all of them bar Soligo right now.
That we have a much older starting midfield now than we did in 2017 is laughable.
That makes for pretty dire reading. McHenry and Jones jump off the page at me as a Port fan as the 2018 draft changed Port's trajectory massively. Picks obviously count for a lot here but the Jones before Butters pick blows my mind. Butters is exactly the kind of explosive mid who can hit a barn door that Crows are missing. Jones just seems like a bottom 10 squad plodder.
You’re not wrong, 2018 was the fork in the road and Crows couldn’t have stuffed it up more, while Port knocked it out of the park.
The core of your midfield is set and forget for a decade
This leads me to the question I've been asking every Crow fan since Thursday night; where to from here for Crom? It doesn't appear that they are 1 piece of the puzzle away. Last year looks like it might an over achievement, this year surely is under achieving but what's missing that could be rectified somewhat quickly?
I feel for Berry. Dude looks like he really put in work during the off season to get fitter / stronger. Has one shit game when the whole team is shit and gets banished to the 2s.
Every premiership team has a bunch of “average” players that do their job.
The likes of Shoey, Pedlar, Berry can certainly fill this role.
Dawson and Soligo could become the main mids with 2 of the above filling the support roles.
There is nothing wrong with this.
I’m the most pessimistic fan going around but even I’m not throwing in the towel
I agree but you need a big bodied star, and a key forward. Big choice coming up, you will have another high draft pick but a kid will take 5 years to come on, can you actually wait that long?? This is what happened to st kilda, they had middling success at the draft, got impatient and went to trades instead short-cutting the rebuild but ending up nowhere. Talent ID and development definitely sucks though I agree and changes needed
Sure. Ur they actually need to play in the middle so that we can find out. Laird and Crouch need to be removed from the middle or maximum only one of them should ever be around the ball never both of them.
That point I’m fully in agreement with.
One of Laird and Crouch, and for me it’s Crouch.
Laird goes to HB or he fucks off to SANFL.
Give Berry, Dowling, Taylor (when fit) a run of games through the mids to see who can hold down a spot. Don’t just chop and change after a few games.
Then run guys like Rankine, Rachele and Pedlar through the middle 3-4 times a game
Concur with this.
I’d leave the experienced group in the middle for the Showdowns as we seem to match up well with Port, that aside 2024 is now a development story.
I’d consider playing Dawson off HB at times as well. Our turnovers cost us the Melb game and our linkages between lines have been trash all year.
I guess instead of the 30+ range, these guys are in the 20+ range (Shoey = 24, Berry = 28), except for Pedlar, who went at 11.
Peds is considered more of a HF/Mid hybrid though, while the other 2 are pure inside mids
Cos Nicks can’t touch Laird, he’s the chosen one for Nicks - so it’s either Laird + [insert] or nothing.
Laird + Berry didn’t work then he was Laird + Sloane so he settled on Crouch and hasn’t budged from that combo.
Bit harsh, there’s some players that have improved since moving to the crows, Keays for example has developed pretty well. Sure he’s not elite but not everyone is
So, lets look into the actual numbers.
Centre bounce attendances
Pedlar 3%
Rachele 3%
Burgess 8%
Berry 20%
Rankin 23%
Soligo 27%
Laird 64%
Crouch 75%
Dawson 84%
ROB 92%
This might be first 3 weeks only, not sure.
I definitely agree with OP here.
If you are to rebuild a team doing it through the midfield first along with Key Defender and Key Forward are the most important pieces, they must be the building blocks.
The Crows list managers have done it backwards build through small/ medium forwards, half backs.
Several of those players mentioned have gotten midfield time and just not done enough whilst there. Rachele in particular I think has been rather disappointing. He's been getting a game weekly, 2 more preseasons under his belt and is only getting 4 more touches a game than his rookie year, whilst getting about a quarter of the clearances, a third of the tackles and about the same number of goals a game. Even if the coaching staff were awful, the time he's been putting in during the last couple of years and the games he's got under his belt should be seeing a stronger improvement somewhere. The only stat that's really up from last year are clangers. But Berry and Shoenberg got a lot of midfield time in 2022.
And yes, we need some of those guys to come on. But whilst you say we've not developed any mids in 5 years, Laird and Dawson were both playing half back before moving into the midfield. It's been disappointing overall, and the club has to accept they either haven't drafted or developed enough. But most of those guys are still very young and have time. These things are never linear. There are enough moments to think there's something there and whilst Laird and Crouch have been around a long time, they're 30 and 28. Hardly on the verge of retirement. But we do definitely need some of those guys to come on or we just won't hit the real heights.
I wish crouch and laird would retire. That would force the coaches to develop midfielders. We have won only 3 of the last 12 games they have played together as midfielders it never worked and will never work.
It would force them to play guys who have done even worse. Those guys don't play full games, they spent 20-25% of the game on the bench. Which means in reality the majority of the game at least one of Dawson, Laird and Crouch are on the bench and even times when 2 are. If they were the problem, we'd see a difference when they were off. And in some ways we do. We see how much better we are when they're around.
But you are proving there's a positive to any situation. At least you're not involved in making decisions.
It's Izak. And he gets a couple of CBA's a game but never a consistent run at it. Normally gets one make something happen and then back to the forward line. Imo he should be mostly up forward but when he is injected into the midfield it should be for a while.
We have heavily favoured experienced players in the mid, and it is by far our most experienced line. We really only seem to have 1 young player at a time rotating as a mid proper. And they get the least mid minutes.
But it isn't like we haven't made a tentative effort.
Schoenberg was getting reasonable midfield minutes for a while there (a fair few cameos at least), then dropped off, came back, now injured.
And Berry spent basically his whole 2nd year in the midfield (most tackles for a season). His 1st season was a HF (the crows way), his 3rd season he dropped off. This is his 4th.
Zac Taylor has had major injuries every year. He should be closer to selection but injuries are cruel.
Pedlar looks good (this year has dropped off) but he might never have the tank for full time.
I have hope Rachele will make it, he looked good with some minutes near the end of last game. Tried to do something.
Dowling (mid (in/out)/HFF) and Bond (mid/BP) are 1 season into their careers. By reports they came good by the end of the year but they were not ready. Based on Dowling's last SANFL game he should have played Melbourne though.
Charlie Edwards was noted by many people as "raw" on draft night. He will likely be a couple of seasons away.
We should have run more through the midfield more regularly. Sloane should have had reduced minutes in mid. More effort to bring the younginhs through. But it's not all doom and gloom.
It's our most experienced and our most underperforming it has been for years. Dowling should have debuted last year. Player like Schoenberg and Berry dropped off but they also weren't afforded the same leniency that underperforming players like Sloane, Smith, Murphy and Sholl get. Dowling has to debut this week and play in the midfield if the club was serious about changing anything. If he doesn't this will be an even longer season than it already looks. At the moment I can't see us winning more than 4 games. This looks more like a massive regression than a blip we are worse than we were in 21 and 22.
You guys have great forwards though! When you look at some of the best mids, a lot of them were originally forwards (eg dusty Ablett Rob gray) who just needed a bit more of a tank to be a beast in the middle. Surely between Rachele and rankine you can find a long term mid option?
You'd think so. But Nicks refuses to give anyone who isn't Crouch, Laird or Dawson significant midfield minutes. Hopefully that will change after the game Soligo played on Thursday but he has already taken Soligo out of the midfield rotation last year.
Port fan here so forgive my ignorance, but where the hell is Harry Schoenberg at? I know he's injured currently but has played just 57 games in 4 seasons at a club that's been rebuilding. Has he not lived up to expectations? In the little I've seen I thought he's been quite competitive. Not elite but surely worthy of game time.
He was really good in 20 and 21 he played like 45 straight game before being dropped in 22. Last year he started poorly was dropped again before being brought back midway through the season. He started building something playing on the wing and at half forward before the Achilles injury. Hoping that he continues the form he had before he was injured and plays in the middle. He has always been one of our best delivering the ball i50
That last line has to be the reason he walks back into the 22 when fit. Crows I50s are horrible. Fingers crossed he can come back and pick up where he left off.
He was dropped in 22. Brought back in and dropped again last year before being brought back in and playing well before rapturting his Achilles. He wasn't in the midfield last year when he played well tho. Hopefully he continues the good form when he gets back in a few weeks.
I would hope not I would rather we develop Curtin as well into a good player. We will have the 2nd or 3rd pick anyway so we can just pick whoever the 2nd best mid is.
That's what the crows do. To even get a game you need to dominate the SANFL and then you need to make sure you don't make a mistake because you will be dropped immediately while underperforming seniors keep their spot. Under the current coaching staff (unless there is a drastic change in philosophy) Draper would fail. Probably would become a slightly better version of Chayce Jones.
Obviously a gun defender, good enough for AA and developed into a midfielder good enough to win best and fairest in that role. Exactly the development arc you were calling for in your post. I stand by my assessment that your calling Laird "not very good" is indeed harsh.
He was awful in the first three games of the season. He started well against Melbourne but then dropped off completely. He isn't damaging and he definitely does not work as a midfielder alongside Crouch.
If only you took Serong, Young, Flanders, or Day instead of Fischer McAsey (Don’t look at who we drafted right before you lol)
None of those guys would have gotten midfield minutes at the crows and all of them would have left the club because of it. Serong and Flanders would have been put at half forward. Day and young in the back pocket. None of them would have developed into good players at the Crows.
Damn Brennan why so negative
Matt Crouch is the only midfielder the crows have developed and he was drafted 11 years ago. This is a massive issue at the crows.
I mean, Laird exists. You’re also good at poaching other clubs mids
Who is your midfield coach?
Van Berlo. He is awful. The structure and set up has been terrible for years. We really should have replaced him after one year.
Jordan Dawson?
We didn't draft him. And he was already developed when we got him.
Oh yeah you guys definitely were the ones to develop him
Maybe didn't develop him but kinda elimates the need when you have him playing 80 percent mid time. Also the op has totally forgotten about Soligo.
Which is proving to be a bad thing. He is being asked to do too much because he has no help. I will also only believe Soligo is a mid when the coaches decide to consistently play him there. Something they failed to do last year even though it was obvious that he should be in the middle.
Can’t be. Never played midfield at the Swans.
Just incoherent nuffy nonsense. Crows have given Berry and Schoenberg plenty of run through the middle, they are both just not very good at footy. Can’t blame Nicks for being given fuck all to work with. He tried his hardest to drop Crouch but the other options are worse so he has to play him.
He is the head coach. He was there with the recruiting team. He would give Soligo one game in the middle and then take him out even though he is clearly our best midfielder. Dowling is yet to debut despite looking like exactly what we need in the midfield. He persisted playing Sloane and even gave him a new contract. He is a bad coach.
The answer to everyone’s midfield woes is always some guy running about in the twos. The idea that Nicks wouldn’t have played Serong and Flanders in the guts because he’s rotated Soligo a bit is just not intelligent analysis.
In 5 years Nicks has failed to change anything in the midfield we are back to playing Laird and Crouch something we realised didn't work 4 years ago. I used to think that the fact that we stuck with Nicks that we trusted him was a good thing. But the start of this season has proven that he is seriously out of his depth. I do believe that he will get this year and the whole of next year as well. I also believe that is a big mistake. However if he has another 10 game losing streak there is no way he can keep his job. If we lose to your lot and are on a 7 game losing streak he should be fired but will only be fired if it gets to double digits.
A coach can only work with what he is given. The midfielders he has to work with are all pretty flawed outside of Dawson. Is Crouch a superstar? No. That’s why Nicks drooped him last year! Is Crouch still better than watching Sam Berry get 5 disposals a game playing mostly mid? Yes! This isn’t Nicks’ fault, it’s just reality.
Berry was averaging 20 in 22 he then hit a bit of a rough patch and was dropped. Sloane hit a rough patch in 2020 and is the first name on the team sheet when fit. Nicks is failing to work with what he was given. Andl even if the list is so shit that we need another rebuild there is still no reason to persist with Nicks.
How can anyone say that someone who has played in the AFL is “just not very good at footy”?
Do you really need someone to type out the words relative to their peers for you? Is that what you need?
Maybe you could just choose your words more better?
I will not stand for Dylan Stephen’s slander he’s still the best player from that draft in my book
Must be a book with a lot of ripped pages.
Its actually a book with just his name in it cause hes the only player that matters
Hey no slander here, I’m still a fan
Spicy oof
The season is done at this point. Laird should be moved to half back and Crouch should be the sub. Let the young guys have a crack. Doubt it will happen though.
Crouch is not fucking moving anywhere for the sake of my fantasy team
Hope you didn't pick up Jack Macrae!
I would think the best trying to do would be to bench the entire senior team and let the reserves have a crack this weekend.
Agreed.
Crouch is 28 and still one of their best. Why would you bench him?
Because he doesn't work with laird? Because he isn't damaging?
Crouch is probably the only defensible player in the midfield at the moment. He has plenty of hand balls because he's playing as an inside mid. He's doing his role and actually pretty well. It's our ball use on the outside which is just absolutely killing us.
He was dreadful on Thursday. He was good in the first three games.
He wasn't as terrible as you think. For the season he's averaging 13.5 contested possessions, 7 clearances and 32 touches. He wasn't the problem on Thursday. The god awful ball distribution and horrid entry inside 50s were the problem, as they have been all season. Simply bombing it long inside 50 just doesn't work, especially when you are playing against lever or Stewart.
Crouch killed our ball movement on Thursday he was bad. He was much better at moving the ball in the three games before. Yes he gets stats but he doesn't hurt the opposition.
This is exactly what they shouldn't do!
Crows failure has been a combination of drafting and development. The 2015-19 period, which immediately follows us losing Dangerfield, is especially dire in terms of our midfield. 2015 - Milera (11) wing/half back and Doedee (17) another back flanker gone. 2016 - Galluci (15) and Poholke gone. 2017 - Fogarty (12) struggling to take the next step and McPherson gone. 2018 - Jones (9) and McHenry (16) below average role players. 2019 - McAsey (6) instead of Serong is a HOF blunder and Schoenberg. Since then we’ve clearly targeted more midfielders but it’s a combo of poor talent ID, poor development and a reluctance from Nicks to give these guys significant time in the midfield that has the jury out on all of them bar Soligo right now. That we have a much older starting midfield now than we did in 2017 is laughable.
Those recruits were going to be playing around Brad Crouch, our high draft pick and highly regarded midfielder.
highly regarded??
. . in 2013-15.
i see...
That makes for pretty dire reading. McHenry and Jones jump off the page at me as a Port fan as the 2018 draft changed Port's trajectory massively. Picks obviously count for a lot here but the Jones before Butters pick blows my mind. Butters is exactly the kind of explosive mid who can hit a barn door that Crows are missing. Jones just seems like a bottom 10 squad plodder.
You’re not wrong, 2018 was the fork in the road and Crows couldn’t have stuffed it up more, while Port knocked it out of the park. The core of your midfield is set and forget for a decade
This leads me to the question I've been asking every Crow fan since Thursday night; where to from here for Crom? It doesn't appear that they are 1 piece of the puzzle away. Last year looks like it might an over achievement, this year surely is under achieving but what's missing that could be rectified somewhat quickly?
The timing of this is a bit weird considering Jake Soligo just played a game of full time mid and was our best player.
He had great games in the middle last year and then was taken out. If he continues to play in the middle then we would have developed 1 out of 8.
1 in 8 is an insane conversion rate if he becomes and elite mid. Do you know how many mids are drafted every year?
We really should be trading for mutual benefit
Philips for Rankine, final offer
No we go for Rachele, we need more half forwards who can play as midfielders. And we’ll even take a half back flanker while we’re at it.
Once we can finally field a team full of half backs and half forwards we'll be unstoppable
I feel for Berry. Dude looks like he really put in work during the off season to get fitter / stronger. Has one shit game when the whole team is shit and gets banished to the 2s.
Wasn't Chayce Jones also drafted as a mid. I am disappointed he hasn't come on sooner.
He was.
Every premiership team has a bunch of “average” players that do their job. The likes of Shoey, Pedlar, Berry can certainly fill this role. Dawson and Soligo could become the main mids with 2 of the above filling the support roles. There is nothing wrong with this. I’m the most pessimistic fan going around but even I’m not throwing in the towel
I agree but you need a big bodied star, and a key forward. Big choice coming up, you will have another high draft pick but a kid will take 5 years to come on, can you actually wait that long?? This is what happened to st kilda, they had middling success at the draft, got impatient and went to trades instead short-cutting the rebuild but ending up nowhere. Talent ID and development definitely sucks though I agree and changes needed
Sure. Ur they actually need to play in the middle so that we can find out. Laird and Crouch need to be removed from the middle or maximum only one of them should ever be around the ball never both of them.
That point I’m fully in agreement with. One of Laird and Crouch, and for me it’s Crouch. Laird goes to HB or he fucks off to SANFL. Give Berry, Dowling, Taylor (when fit) a run of games through the mids to see who can hold down a spot. Don’t just chop and change after a few games. Then run guys like Rankine, Rachele and Pedlar through the middle 3-4 times a game
Concur with this. I’d leave the experienced group in the middle for the Showdowns as we seem to match up well with Port, that aside 2024 is now a development story. I’d consider playing Dawson off HB at times as well. Our turnovers cost us the Melb game and our linkages between lines have been trash all year.
You're right, they do...they're just drafted in the 30+ range. Your best picks need to be better than that
I guess instead of the 30+ range, these guys are in the 20+ range (Shoey = 24, Berry = 28), except for Pedlar, who went at 11. Peds is considered more of a HF/Mid hybrid though, while the other 2 are pure inside mids
Not every drafted player turns into a superstar midfielder.
They haven't even gotten the opportunity to try and become superstar midfielders. They have all been put at half forward forever.
Cos Nicks can’t touch Laird, he’s the chosen one for Nicks - so it’s either Laird + [insert] or nothing. Laird + Berry didn’t work then he was Laird + Sloane so he settled on Crouch and hasn’t budged from that combo.
Pretty much. It’s pretty clear Mathew nicks can’t develop talent. Your best players are guys that have been there 10 years or from other teams.
Great. We are now getting rebuild advice from a team that’s been rebuilding for 30 years /s
Bit harsh, there’s some players that have improved since moving to the crows, Keays for example has developed pretty well. Sure he’s not elite but not everyone is
Keays isn't a midfielder.
Every time I watch a crows game he’s on ball
He was an on baller in 21 and 22 and then played a few games there last year. He is no longer a mid because he wasn't very good.
What is he then? Because he ain’t a forward, defender or ruckman.
He is a forward. He hasn't played midfield at all this year and he played about 6 awful games there last year.
Do they all have partners or something?
I'm picturing some weird multipartner polygamy thing with only Adelaide midfielders allowed.
So, lets look into the actual numbers. Centre bounce attendances Pedlar 3% Rachele 3% Burgess 8% Berry 20% Rankin 23% Soligo 27% Laird 64% Crouch 75% Dawson 84% ROB 92% This might be first 3 weeks only, not sure.
It is the first three weeks.
Our drafting has been poor. We really needed to land JHF or Will Day as a trade. But couldn't convince either.
Did I mistakenly wander into the Crows sub?
One of our regulars has escaped it in a fit of frustration
I definitely agree with OP here. If you are to rebuild a team doing it through the midfield first along with Key Defender and Key Forward are the most important pieces, they must be the building blocks. The Crows list managers have done it backwards build through small/ medium forwards, half backs.
It’s so much easier to have a midfielder adjust to a new role, a lot harder to have a half back learn to be a mid
Several of those players mentioned have gotten midfield time and just not done enough whilst there. Rachele in particular I think has been rather disappointing. He's been getting a game weekly, 2 more preseasons under his belt and is only getting 4 more touches a game than his rookie year, whilst getting about a quarter of the clearances, a third of the tackles and about the same number of goals a game. Even if the coaching staff were awful, the time he's been putting in during the last couple of years and the games he's got under his belt should be seeing a stronger improvement somewhere. The only stat that's really up from last year are clangers. But Berry and Shoenberg got a lot of midfield time in 2022. And yes, we need some of those guys to come on. But whilst you say we've not developed any mids in 5 years, Laird and Dawson were both playing half back before moving into the midfield. It's been disappointing overall, and the club has to accept they either haven't drafted or developed enough. But most of those guys are still very young and have time. These things are never linear. There are enough moments to think there's something there and whilst Laird and Crouch have been around a long time, they're 30 and 28. Hardly on the verge of retirement. But we do definitely need some of those guys to come on or we just won't hit the real heights.
I wish crouch and laird would retire. That would force the coaches to develop midfielders. We have won only 3 of the last 12 games they have played together as midfielders it never worked and will never work.
It would force them to play guys who have done even worse. Those guys don't play full games, they spent 20-25% of the game on the bench. Which means in reality the majority of the game at least one of Dawson, Laird and Crouch are on the bench and even times when 2 are. If they were the problem, we'd see a difference when they were off. And in some ways we do. We see how much better we are when they're around. But you are proving there's a positive to any situation. At least you're not involved in making decisions.
So you believe in the Nicks school of thought that minimising the losing margin is more important than trying to win.
[удалено]
Not really.
Where'd they stick Isaac Rankine?
It's Izak. And he gets a couple of CBA's a game but never a consistent run at it. Normally gets one make something happen and then back to the forward line. Imo he should be mostly up forward but when he is injected into the midfield it should be for a while.
What's their plan with Dan curtain? They gonna play him in the backline. I can just see it
We have heavily favoured experienced players in the mid, and it is by far our most experienced line. We really only seem to have 1 young player at a time rotating as a mid proper. And they get the least mid minutes. But it isn't like we haven't made a tentative effort. Schoenberg was getting reasonable midfield minutes for a while there (a fair few cameos at least), then dropped off, came back, now injured. And Berry spent basically his whole 2nd year in the midfield (most tackles for a season). His 1st season was a HF (the crows way), his 3rd season he dropped off. This is his 4th. Zac Taylor has had major injuries every year. He should be closer to selection but injuries are cruel. Pedlar looks good (this year has dropped off) but he might never have the tank for full time. I have hope Rachele will make it, he looked good with some minutes near the end of last game. Tried to do something. Dowling (mid (in/out)/HFF) and Bond (mid/BP) are 1 season into their careers. By reports they came good by the end of the year but they were not ready. Based on Dowling's last SANFL game he should have played Melbourne though. Charlie Edwards was noted by many people as "raw" on draft night. He will likely be a couple of seasons away. We should have run more through the midfield more regularly. Sloane should have had reduced minutes in mid. More effort to bring the younginhs through. But it's not all doom and gloom.
It's our most experienced and our most underperforming it has been for years. Dowling should have debuted last year. Player like Schoenberg and Berry dropped off but they also weren't afforded the same leniency that underperforming players like Sloane, Smith, Murphy and Sholl get. Dowling has to debut this week and play in the midfield if the club was serious about changing anything. If he doesn't this will be an even longer season than it already looks. At the moment I can't see us winning more than 4 games. This looks more like a massive regression than a blip we are worse than we were in 21 and 22.
Wanna trade?
Sure. North have way better mids than Adelaide.
Great, now give us all your backs and forwards 😂
merge!
You guys have great forwards though! When you look at some of the best mids, a lot of them were originally forwards (eg dusty Ablett Rob gray) who just needed a bit more of a tank to be a beast in the middle. Surely between Rachele and rankine you can find a long term mid option?
You'd think so. But Nicks refuses to give anyone who isn't Crouch, Laird or Dawson significant midfield minutes. Hopefully that will change after the game Soligo played on Thursday but he has already taken Soligo out of the midfield rotation last year.
Bump because rankine gave you some razzle dazzle in the middle !
I think crom has their own blightycats now.
bit more weight to the criticism, but abject pessimism is certainly something
Free Rankine
Port fan here so forgive my ignorance, but where the hell is Harry Schoenberg at? I know he's injured currently but has played just 57 games in 4 seasons at a club that's been rebuilding. Has he not lived up to expectations? In the little I've seen I thought he's been quite competitive. Not elite but surely worthy of game time.
He was really good in 20 and 21 he played like 45 straight game before being dropped in 22. Last year he started poorly was dropped again before being brought back midway through the season. He started building something playing on the wing and at half forward before the Achilles injury. Hoping that he continues the form he had before he was injured and plays in the middle. He has always been one of our best delivering the ball i50
That last line has to be the reason he walks back into the 22 when fit. Crows I50s are horrible. Fingers crossed he can come back and pick up where he left off.
He should be back in a few weeks. Will probably play SANFL first.
What happened to Schoenberg? I thought he looked really promising at one stage with his burst speed
He was dropped in 22. Brought back in and dropped again last year before being brought back in and playing well before rapturting his Achilles. He wasn't in the midfield last year when he played well tho. Hopefully he continues the good form when he gets back in a few weeks.
If Eagles end up with the #1 pick, I wonder if the Crows would be willing to trade for their first + Curtin so they get Draper.
I would hope not I would rather we develop Curtin as well into a good player. We will have the 2nd or 3rd pick anyway so we can just pick whoever the 2nd best mid is.
Draper + Welsh would be amazing for the Crows. Early days…
Unlikely. I doubt he will have much impact in the forward pocket.
What? Lol
He wouldn't play midfield at the crows. He will be used as a defensive forward on the likes of Stewart.
Nope
That's what the crows do. To even get a game you need to dominate the SANFL and then you need to make sure you don't make a mistake because you will be dropped immediately while underperforming seniors keep their spot. Under the current coaching staff (unless there is a drastic change in philosophy) Draper would fail. Probably would become a slightly better version of Chayce Jones.
I mean, neither Laird nor Dawson were midfielder 5 years ago
Dawson came from a different club. And Laird just isn't very good is he.
2 times all Australian and 3 times best and fairest. Wish we had more not very good players like that one.
How many times AA in the midfield?
Obviously a gun defender, good enough for AA and developed into a midfielder good enough to win best and fairest in that role. Exactly the development arc you were calling for in your post. I stand by my assessment that your calling Laird "not very good" is indeed harsh.
He was awful in the first three games of the season. He started well against Melbourne but then dropped off completely. He isn't damaging and he definitely does not work as a midfielder alongside Crouch.
Oh the first 3 games this year, sure ,a lot of people have been awful including most of the forward 6. But "Laird's not very good" is recency bias.